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July 16, 2010

June Was Earth’s Warmest Month On Record

by Sam Savage

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Thursday that last month was the hottest June ever recorded on Earth.

According to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature data also showed that the January-June and April-June periods were the warmest on record, which go back as far as 1880.

The combined average for global land and ocean temperatures in June was 61.1 degrees Fahrenheit, which are 1.22 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the 20th century average of 59.9 degrees Fahrenheit.

According to NOAA, temperatures warmer than average spread throughout the globe in recent months, more dominantly in areas like Peru, the central and eastern U.S. and in eastern and western Asia.

Cooler-than-average conditions took place in Scandinavia, southern China and the U.S. northwest.

According to the Beijing Climate Center, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Jilin experienced their warmest June since it started taking records in 1951.

According to Spain's meteorological service, June was the coolest the country has felt in 13 years.

Global ocean surface temperatures average 0.97 degrees above last century's average of 61.5 degrees Fahrenheit. NOAA said that the Atlantic Ocean saw the most pronounced warmth.

The average land surface temperature for June was 1.93 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the 20th century average of 55.9 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sea surface temperatures were declining throughout the equatorial Pacific Ocean, which is in line with the behavior during the end of El Nino.

NOAA's Climate Prediction Center forecast that La Nina conditions, where ocean waters in the east-central equatorial Pacific are unusually cool, would likely take place during the northern hemisphere summer this year.